Manorbier.com
The meeting of the association took place in Manorbier Village hall on the 3rd March 2005. The chairperson, Mrs Stace, informed the meeting about what she felt was the success of the Community Bus in Manorbier saying that it was even being used this evening for a night out at the Torch Theatre. She informed the meeting that two of the organisations that had been using the bus had now stopped using it, however she stated that she was unaware as to their reason for this. She assured the meeting that no community charge (local taxation) would be required in any way for the cost of the bus and indicated she would like to dispel rumours that the association would be looking to fund any element of the running of the bus from any source of local taxation. She referred to her only disappointment namely the vandalism that had occurred to the bus during the year but she thanked Pembrokeshire County Council for their support during this difficult period.
Mrs Stace then felt that she had to read out a letter which she informed the meeting had been written to County Councillor Carver over claims she alleged he had made regarding the association pressurising local organisations to use the bus. A copy of the letter had been forwarded to Mr Barrie Davies Head of Infrastructure and Transport at Pembrokeshire County Council. Mrs Coleman, the Secretary, then claimed that Councillor Calver should have replied to her letter. At this stage Councillor Calver attempt to correct the allegations made by the association as he believed them to be false. Mrs Stace did not allow him to reply to her remarks. Councillor Calver then informed Mrs Stace that he felt that she was politically biased against him and was using the meeting for this end. The basis for this belief was the fact that Mrs Stace had attended the County Council elections supporting the county council candidate Mrs Griffiths.
Mrs Stace informed the meeting that the association would be changing it status to that of a limited company as she was concerned that in this modem era of litigation the existing trustees would be personally protected should a claim be made against those running the bus.
Councillor Calver raised the question over the viability of the bus when the new safe route to school scheme was introduced. Mrs Stace felt that the bus would still be needed, as she for one would not allow her grandchild to walk to school. This reply failed to answer the question raised by Councillor Calver of how the loss of numbers of children using the bus and who would be expected to walk to school would affect the financial viability of the bus.
Councillor Calver then addressed the misleading information presented by Mrs Stace that he had stated to Mr Barrie Davies that the organisation had been pressurising local organisations to use the bus. He informed the meeting that his concern was that the local taxi service provided an excellent service to the community especially the local hostelries and he would not wish to see these undermined by a taxpayer funded competitor. Mr Hubert Mathias from Pembrokeshire County Council who attended the meeting confirmed that the association was not reporting correctly the remarks attributed to Councillor Calver in his discussion with Mr Davies. He stated that he knew this as he had been inform by Barrie Davies prior to the meeting of the content of discussion between Cllr Calver and Mr Davies.
Councillor Calver then informed the meeting that he would be calling a meeting in the near future to discuss the money allocated to the village under the safe route to school scheme. Money would be allocated to certain sections of the route but he informed the meeting that the section from Jameston to the village had been determined as economically unviable but that the section from Manorbier to the school was to receive funding as the school had requested it in its travel plan. Councillor Wales, who had at a recent Community Council meeting declared the allocated money as a great success, was unaware that WAG had decided the path to Jameston was not to be funded. The local schoolteacher Sharon Davies had not seen the document produced for the scheme but when questioned by County Councillor Calver that surely the headmistress had been made aware of the document, informed the meeting that the travel plan which included walking children to school was to alleviate the congestion outside the school by parents dropping their children of at the school. She stated that the reason being the safe walk to school route had been promoted in the school's travel plan.
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The bus had been provided by Pembrokeshire County Council to the local community after Councillor Wales had noticed the danger whilst he had spent time constructing a new entrance walls and visibility splay to his property which joins the highway on this particular narrow part of the Jameston to Manorbier school road. The main complaint was that the local bus service did not coincide with starting and finishing times at the village school so parents of children from Jameston who did not have cars available at school times had to walk their children along the road to school.
The Welsh Office has now decided to provide £80,000 of the projected costs of some £396,000 to provide a safe route to Manorbier school from areas within the school catchment area. The reason the Welsh Assembly Government has provided these taxpayer provided funds is for the safety of children and to encourage a healthier lifestyle for young children. It is to be hoped that those parents within a reasonable walking distance of school should be encouraged to walk their children to school and hopefully all staff including teachers will set an example to the children by walking to school as well. We have to be realistic and accept in this modem day that many parents would wish to drive their children to school and then drive to work. Therefore we have to provide, by whatever means or methods that are available to us, sufficient parking as close to the school as possible should parents decide to use this option. It is also important wherever possible to negate the need for a road crossing patrol officer. The concern of many schools is that even though safe routes to school have been provided under school travel plans in the past it has not alleviated the problem of parents parking outside school when dropping off or collecting their children. If parents decided that it is more important to have the option of car parking alongside school particularly in rural areas then taxpayers money should not be wasted on providing certain routes that will never be used by parents.